Edward Fennell in Times 2 reports on a new initiative by Addleshaw Goddard. Instead of putting their trainees into a classroom for a week, the trainees were sent off to Romania to build houses for the Charity Habitat for Humanity. This is worthy…. and certainly worthy of Matt Muttley, managing partner of Muttley Dastardly LLP. I am sure he will follow suit and get his new trainees to build a new swimming pool at his country house. Fennell hints at possible liability issues when he states “Would I want to live in a house built by 20-year olds with no discernible building skills? Who knows, but the next time I need a bit of lawyering I’ll remember to phone my local brickie.”
Student behaviour
There was a very interesting article in Times2 today about the difficulties being faced by university lecturers in connection with student discipline. It appears, with the introduction of fees, that a minority of students feel ‘entitled to a certain level of grade purely by virtue of having paid. The article reported one student as asking “I paid my fees so how come I haven’t got any credits?”
Other examples of disruptive behaviour included complaining when an email sent after midnight is not immediately responded to and, bizarrely, ‘refusing to let staff pass on the stairs’.
The nub of the matter is, as the article makes clear, that some students ‘like to believe they are paying for a qualification rather than the opportunity to work for one’. Having been involved in university and professional education in the private sector for twenty-five years I know that students expect a high standard of teaching and service. We did not always, I am sure, meet with everyone’s expectation, but we had few complaints over the years. Public sector colleges, particularly where very high fees are charged for the LPC and BVC, will just have to ensure their standards are high and meet reasonable expectation of their clients. Fee paying students are entitled to a good standard of service. Hopefully, the public sector will meet the challenge.
Are you what you wear on your head?
David Pannick QC in Times Law says no and suggests that the Bar may follow the judges in dispensing with wigs in civil cases. Pannick writes that the Hong Kong Bar is debating the issue hotly and Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar, Rimsky Yuen Kwok-keung SC seems to be in support of retaining 18th century court dress in Hong Kong because of the unique political situation. Pannick is clearly not too keen on ‘balancing bit of dead horse’ on his head or ‘being an object of ridicule by dressing up in a horse hair when he goes to work’ and advocates that Hong Kong barristers should throw their wigs into Victoria Harbour
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